Control mechanisms for cell growth and differentiation are disrupted in neoplastic cells (Potter, V. R. (1988) Adv. Oncol. 4, 1-8; Strife, A. & Clarkson, B. (1988) Semin. Hematol. 25, 1-19; Sachs, L. (1987) Cancer Res. 47, 1981-1986). cAMP, an intracellular regulatory agent, has been considered to have a role in the control of cell proliferation and differentiation (Pastan, I., Johnson, G. S. & Anderson, W. B. (1975) Ann. Rev. Biochem. 44, 491-522; Prasad, K. N. (1975) Biol. Rev. 50, 129-165; Cho-Chung, Y. S. (1980) J. Cyclic Nucleotide Res. 6, 163-177; Puck, T. T. (1987) Somatic Cell Mot. Genet. 13, 451-457). Either inhibitory or stimulatory effects of cAMP on cell growth have been reported previously in studies in which cAMP analogs such as N.sup.6 -O.sup.2' -dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate or agents that raise intracellular cAMP to abnormal and continuously high levels were used, and available data are interpreted very differently (Chapowski, F. J., Kelly, L. A. & Butcher, R. W. (1975) Adv. Cyclic Nucleotide Protein Phosphorylat. Res. 6, 245-338; Cho-Chung, Y. S. (1979) in Influence of Hormones on Tumor Development, eds. Kellen, J. A. & Hilf, R. (CRC, Boca Raton, Fla.), pp. 55-93); Prasad, K. N. (1981) in The Transformed Cell, eds. Cameron, L. L. & Pool, T. B. (Academic, New York), pp. 235-266; Boynton, A. L. & Whitfield, J. F. (1983) Adv. Cyclic Nucleotide Res. 15, 193-294).
Recently, site-selective cAMP analogs were discovered which show a preference for binding to purified preparations of type II rather than type I cAMP-dependent protein kinase in vitro (Robinson-Steiner, A. M. & Corbin, J. D. (1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258, 1032-1040; O/greid, D., Ekanger, R., Suva, R. H., Miller, J. P., Sturm, P., Corbin, J. D. & Do/skeland, S. O. (1985) Eur. J. Biochem. 150, 219-227), provoke potent growth inhibition, differentiation, and reverse transformation in a broad spectrum of human and rodent cancer cell lines (Katsaros, D., Tortora, G., Tagliaferri, P., Clair, T., Ally, S., Neckers, L., Robins, R. K. & Cho-Chung, Y. S. (1987) FEBS Lett. 223, 97-103; Tortora, G., Tagliaferri, P., Clair, T., Colamonici, O., Neckers, L. M., Robins, R. K. & Cho-Chung, Y. S. (1988) Blood, 71, 230-233; Tagliaferri, P., Katsaros, D., Clair, T., Robins, R. K. & Cho-Chung, Y. S. (1988) J. Biol. Chem. 263, 409-416). The type I and type II protein kinases are distinguished by their regulatory subunits (RI and RII, respectively) (Corbin, J. D., Keely, S. L. & Park, C. R. (1975) J. Biol. Chem. 250, 218-225; Hofmann, F., Beavo, J. A. & Krebs, E. G. (1975) J. Biol. Chem. 250, 7795-7801). Four different regulatory subunits [RI.sub..alpha. (previously designated RI) (Lee, D. C., Carmichael, D. F., Krebs, E. G. & McKnight, G. S. (1983) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 80, 3608-3612), RI.sub..beta. (Clegg, C. H., Cadd, G. G. & McKnight, G. S. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85, 3703-3707), RII.sub..alpha. (RII.sub.54) (Scott, J. D., Glaccum, M. B., Zoller, M. J., Uhler, M. D., Hofmann, D. M., McKnight, G. S. & Krebs, E. G. (1987) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84, 5192-5196) and RII.sub..beta. (RII.sub.51) (Jahnsen, T., Hedin, L., Kidd, V. J., Beattie, W. G., Lohmann, S. M., Walter, U., Durica, J., Schulz, T. Z., Schlitz, E., Browner, M., Lawrence, C. B., Goldman, D., Ratoosh, S. L. & Richards, J. S. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 12352-12361)] have now been identified at the gene/mRNA level. Two different catalytic subunits [C.sub..alpha. (Uhler, M. D., Carmichael, D. F., Lee, D. C. Chrivia, J. C., Krebs, E. G. & McKnight, G. S. (1986) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 83, 1300-1304) and C.sub..beta. (Uhler, M. D., Chrivia, J. C. & McKnight, G. S. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 15360-15363; Showers, M. O. & Maurer, R. A. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 16288-16291)] have also been identified; however, preferential coexpression of either one of these catalytic subunits with either the type I or type II protein kinase regulatory subunit has not been found (Showers, M. O. & Maurer, R. A. (1986) J. Biol. Chem, 261, 16288-16291).
The growth inhibition by site-selective cAMP analogs parallels reduction in RI.sub..alpha. with an increase in RII.sub..beta., resulting in an increase of the RII.sub..beta. /RI.sub..alpha. ratio in cancer cells (Ally, S., Tortora, G., Clair, T., Grieco, D., Merlo, G., Katsaros, D., O/greid, D., Do/skeland, S. O., Jahnsen, T. & Cho-Chung, Y. S. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85, 6319-6322; Cho-Chung, Y. S. (1989) J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 81, 982-987).
Such selection modulation of RI.sub..alpha. versus RII.sub.62 is not mimicked by treatment with N.sup.6,O.sup.2' -dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, a previously studied cAMP analog (Ally, S., Tortora, G., Clair, T., Grieco, D., Merlo, G., Katsaros, D., O/greid , D., Do/skeland, S. O., Jahnsen, T. & Cho-Chung, Y. S. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad, Sci. USA 85, 6319-6322). The growth inhibition further correlates with a rapid translocation of RII.sub..beta. to the nucleus and an increase in the transcription of the RII.sub.62 gene (Ally, S., Tortora, G., Clair, T., Grieco, D., Merlo, G., Katsaros, D., O/greid , D., Do/skeland, S. O., Jahnsen, T. & Cho-Chung, Y. S. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85, 6319-6322). These results support the hypothesis that RII.sub.62 plays an important role in the cAMP growth regulatory function (Cho-Chung, Y. S. (1989) J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 81, 982-987).
Antisense RNA sequences have been described as naturally occurring biological inhibitors of gene expression in both prokaryotes (Mizuno, T., Chou, M-Y, and Inouye, M. (1984), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81, (1966-1970)) and eukaryotes (Heywood, S. M. Nucleic Acids Res., 14, 6771-6772 (1986)), and these sequences presumably function by hybridizing to complementary mRNA sequences, resulting in hybridization arrest of translation (Paterson, B. M., Roberts, B. E., and Kuff, E. L., (1977) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 74, 4370-4374. Antisense oligodeoxynucleotides are short synthetic nucleotide sequences formulated to be complementary to a specific gene or RNA message. Through the binding of these oligomers to a target DNA or mRNA sequence, transcription or translation of the gene can be selectively blocked and the disease process generated by that gene can be halted. The cytoplasmic location of mRNA provides a target considered to be readily accessible to antisense oligodeoxynucleotides entering the cell; hence much of the work in the field has focused on RNA as a target. Currently, the use of antisense oligodeoxynucleotides provides a useful tool for exploring regulation of gene expression in vitro and in tissue culture (Rothenberg, M., Johnson, G., Laughlin, C., Green, I., Craddock, J., Sarver, N., and Cohen, J. S. (1989) J. Natl. Cancer Inst., 81:1539-1544.